Requirements and project management

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Contents 1.1 Background 2 1.2 Business Opportunity/Problem 3 1.3 Business Objectives (BO) 4 1.3.1 Increased Profit Margin 4 1.3.2 Increase traceability thus eradicating counterfeit goods 5 1.3.3 Increased customer satisfaction 5 2. Business Context 6 2.1 Stakeholder Profiles 6 2.2 User Classes and Characteristics 7 2.3 Use Cases (UC) 8 2.3.1 Checking Food Product Ingredients Information 8 2.3.2 Inquiry on Food Product Expiry Date 9 2.3.3 Developing the Smart Label System 10 2.3.4 Building the Sensor Smart Labels 11 2.3.5 System Functionality Testing 12 3. Functional Requirements 13 3.1 User Requirements 13 3.2 System Requirements 13 3.3 Non Functional Requirements 14 3.3.1 Performance. 14 3.3.2 Availability 14 3.3.3 Accuracy 14 3.3.4 Usability 14 Glossary: 15

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1.1 Background

Food waste is a key concern across the globe. This is a reduction in the quantity or quality of food because of retailer, food service provider, and consumer decisions and behaviors. Food waste could be in form of; fresh produce deviating from what is considered optimal, food close to or beyond ‘best-before’ dates and unused or left overs of large quantities of wholesome edible food. According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), up to a third of food produced in the world for human consumption every year - approximately 1.3 billion tonnes - gets lost or wasted. This is despite the fact that according to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, it is estimated that between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger in 2020. This number had increased from the 2019 figures.

Hunger is defined as a state of acute food insecurity in which people go without food for days on end owing to a lack of money, access to food, or other factors or other resources. The iron of the food waste and hunger comparison is that the globe produces enough food to feed everyone in the planet. While small scale farmers dealing with dairy, cattle keeping and fishing produce about 70 percent of global food, they are the most vulnerable to food insecurity.

Developing a smart label technology will address the problem of food wastage globally. This will bridge the gap between food waste and hunger in the food industry. This will satisfy the need food enough food to all world population by reducing the amounts wasted. A smart label incorporates technology that goes beyond traditional printing methods to enhance the functionality and content of labels or packaging. This can be done through Radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags, Quick Response (QR) codes and near field communication.

1.2 Business Opportunity/Problem

An effective and efficient food management plan will help the world address the issue of hunger not by investing more production but only reducing wastage of what is already produced. The world produces enough food to feed its population in entirely. By use of smart label technology, the world will be able to cut much of the food wastage and channel the same to the staving population thus bring a balance to food supply.

The problem of food wastage had deep roots around the globe. Food waste and losses in developed countries total around US$ 680 billion, whereas in developing ones they total around US$ 310 billion. It is enough to feed 870 million hungry people in the globe if only a fourth of the total food lost globally is saved. This simply translates to completely eradicating the issue of hunger and food insecurity worldwide.

Food waste occurs at different stages of the food value chain. This could be due to financial, managerial, and technical limits in harvesting procedures, as well as storage and refrigeration facilities, at the beginning of the food value chain as in most developing countries. Food waste could be reduced by investing in infrastructure, transportation, and increasing the food and packaging business. In developed countries, food waste occurs in later stages of the food value chain which is hugely influenced by consumers’ behavior.

Through the project, the smart food label software requirements specifications will be broadly discussed, business objectives, use cases and user classes and characteristics. These requirements will be categorized as either functional or non-functional requirements. In addition to reducing food waste, other problems and opportunities which contribute to the development of smart food label software are as outlined below.

i. Bridges the food insecurity gap. Most of the wasted food will be used to feed the world’s hungry population.

ii. Better customer interface thus allowing the producer to remain relevant. When brands use these platforms, they have a better chance of remaining relevant in the lives of their customers.

iii. Empowering customers to make more informed decisions while helping brands maintain a loyal customer base.

iv. Quality control through enhancing product’s shelf-life. Smart packaging allows the material to adjust to the environment both outside and within the package.

v. Enhancing food system sustainability. Packing with built-in sensors helps in ensuring food quality and freshness through temperature monitoring.

1.3 Business Objectives (BO)

By developing a smart food label solution, the business will realize the following business goals. An elaborate metric to measure and verify accompany each goal.

1.3.1 Increased Profit Margin

Food waste costs the world in excess of a trillion US dollars annually. This is a summation of each food producer loss. By embracing smart food labeling technology, the business will cut of losses thus increased profit margins. This will be measured as the business will realize reduced food wastage provisions thus leading to increased profits.

1.3.2 Increase traceability thus eradicating counterfeit goods

The business can easily identify its food products by use of smart labeling such as QR codes; data embedded codes and RFID smart labels. Business can automatically track products through the supply chain. This deters counterfeiting and introduction of false foods camouflaging to originate from a specific producer. By embracing the smart labeling technologies, the business will realize a decrease in counterfeits cases, a measure to this business objective.

1.3.3 Increased customer satisfaction

With customers being able to access information such as expiry date, products nutritional data and origin information, they are more informed thus higher customer satisfaction. This is because customers can make informed decisions o what types of food to consume and to what levels. A survey can be undertaken to measure the extent of customer satisfaction as a result of smart food labeling.

2. Business Context

2.1 Stakeholder Profiles

Stakeholder	Major value	Attitudes	Major interests	Constraints if any
Customers	Food products buyers	Supporter of the project. Believe in the expiration dates in the food packages.	· A well labeled food packaging. · Information on food product nutritional content. · Origin of the food products. · Good for consumption and edible food.
Retailers	Distribute food from producers to consumers.	Champion who actively advocate for the project.	· Increased product information · Increased customer base · Less cases of counterfeits.
Food producers	Manufacture the food products	Supporter who is part of the initiative/project	· Increased profits · Reduced cases of false foods · Increased customers base
Government	Responsible for ensuring food security for the entire population	Neutral as it seeks to provide a fair playing ground	· Taxes · Reduced food insecurity · Increase customer awareness.
Environmentalists	Champions for environment free from pollution.	Champion of the project as they have little trust on normal labeling system.	· Reduced pollution as a result of food waste.

Element	Description
The problem of	Confusion caused by expiry dates using normal labeling systems.
Affects	Consumers and retailers
And result in	Food wastage when consumers throw away food that are still edible.
Benefit of a solution	There will be reduced food wastage and consumer will spend less on food since there will be less wastage.
Element	Description
The problem of	Consumers fail to buy food because of false expiration dates in the food packages.
Affects	Retailers
And result in	Losses to retailers who are left with food that is still edible but no demand from the consumers.
Benefit of a solution	Retailers can track information about expiry date thereby avoiding ordering packages that are bad.
Element	Description
The problem of	Wastage of edible food by the consumers
Affects	People in poor areas
And result in	Food insecurity
Benefit of a solution	Enough food will be saved from wastage which can be donated to poor areas.
Element	Description
The problem of	Throwing edible, wasted food in garbage.
Affects	Environmentalist
And result in	Environment pollution such as emission of ethane gas
Benefit of a solution	Reduction of environment pollution from ethane gas.
Element	Description
The problem of	Disposal of edible food wastage in the garbage.
Affects	The government.
And result in	Increased cost of waste disposal and management.
Benefit of a solution	Reduced waste disposed due to food wastage will cut the expenditure of the government in the waste disposal and management system.
Element	Description
The problem of	Consumers disposing food that are still edible.
Affects	Producers of food.
And result in	Waste of resources used in producing food.
Benefit of a solution	The resources will be effectively utilized to produce food that are consumed efficiently.

2.2 User Classes and Characteristics

User class

1. Customers

2. Food Provider

3. Project Team

4. Retailers

5. Government

Description

The customers will be the main consumers of the smart labeled food products. It is estimated more customers will make use of the smart labels to get more information of the product thus make informed consumption decisions.

The food provider is the food manufacturer and primary user of the smart labeling technology. The provider will use the smart labeling technology to lock out counterfeits while increasing traceability for products.

The team will be tasked with developing, testing and launching of the proposed smart labeling solution with sensor smart labels. The team will comprise of Product Owner, a Subject Matter Expert, 3 Designers, 3 Quality Assurance Engineers, 3 Backend Developers, 3 Frontend Developers, a DevOps Engineer and Solution Architect.

The retailers are the link between food producers and consumers. They form part of the food chain and their food handling is key in maintain the edibility and freshness of the food.

The government will be represented by food safety team to ensure the product is within rules and regulations set out in the food safety act and relevant laws. The food safety team will ensure the labeling is actual representation of the product.

2.3 Use Cases (UC)

The various user classes found the following primary actors and use cases:

2.3.1 Checking Food Product Ingredients Information

Primary actor	Use cases
ID and Name:	UC-1: I am requesting information about food ingredients and the nutrient’s value.
Created By:		Date Created:
Primary Actor:	Customer
Description:	The customer wants to check information of ingredients of a specific food product
Trigger:	Click on food ingredients of the specific food product
Preconditions:	· Have an active account in the system. · Match the username and password · Logged into the system · Select the specific food product interested in.
Postconditions	The customer can check details of other food products.
Normal Flow:	The use case starts when a user indicates that he wants to check ingredients for a specific food product i. The system requests the username and password ii. The user enters username and password iii. System verifies the entered details against what is in database. iv. The system takes customer to dashboard page. v. The customer selects food product to view vi. The customer clicks on Click on food ingredients. vii. The system displays the ingredients details.
Alternative Flows: If any	Step iv. If username is invalid, the use case goes back to step ii. Step iv. If password doesn’t match the entered username, the use case goes back to step ii.
Exceptions: if any	The customer can set the first product of the list to display ingredients details by default.
Business Rules: if any	More than three wrong log in attempts lead to blocking of the account as the system interprets it as unauthorized access.

2.3.2 Inquiry on Food Product Expiry Date

Primary actor	Use cases
ID and Name:	UC-2: Inquiring about the expiry date of food product.
Created By:		Date Created:
Primary Actor:	Customer
Description:	The customer wants to check the expiry date of a specific food product.
Trigger:	Click on ‘best before’ for the specific food product.
Preconditions:	· Have an active account in the system. · Match the username and password · Logged into the system · Select the specific food product interested in.
Postconditions:	The customer can check details of other food products.
Normal Flow:	The use case starts when a user indicates that he wants to check expiry date for a specific food product i. The system requests the username and password ii. The user enters username and password iii. System verifies the entered details against what is in database. iv. The system takes customer to dashboard page. v. The customer selects food product to view vi. The customer clicks on Click on ‘best before’ vii. The system displays the food expiry date in the format DD/MM/YYYY
Alternative Flows: If any	Step iv. If username is invalid, the use case goes back to step ii. Step iv. If password doesn’t match the entered username, the use case goes back to step ii.
Exceptions: if any	The customer can set the first product of the list to display expiry date details by default.
Business Rules: if any	More than three wrong log in attempts lead to blocking of the account as the system interprets it as unauthorized access.

2.3.3 Developing the Smart Label System

Primary actor	Use cases
ID and Name:	UC-3: Developing the Smart Label System
Created By:		Date Created:
Primary Actor:	Project Team
Description:	The Developers (frontend and backend) wants to build the smart label system and make necessary adjustments as per the provided feedback.
Trigger:	The developers code the system using relevant programming languages and tools.
Preconditions:	· A design of how the system should be like. · Laptops and relevant software installed. · Licenses to compliers and coding environments for the selected coding languages.
Postconditions:	Use of the right compiler, the different system modules are tried separately then integrated to come up with the system.
Normal Flow:	The use case starts when the developers indicate that they want to develop the smart label system. i. Obtain the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and suitable compilers. ii. Follow the system design iii. Start coding iv. Test the developed modules v. Integrate the modules to come up with the system.
Alternative Flows: If any	Step iv. If the developed module doesn’t meet the requirements, the use case goes back to step iii.
Exceptions: if any
Business Rules: if any	The right system designs putting in to consideration all the gathered requirements are followed during the system development.

2.3.4 Building the Sensor Smart Labels

Primary actor	Use cases
ID and Name:	UC-4: Building the Sensor Smart Labels
Created By:		Date Created:
Primary Actor:	Project Team
Description:	The Developers (frontend and backend) will create software that is necessary for monitoring and identifying the taste of the food taste, in addition, the software will help in determining the number of bacteria in the food bacteria quantity in the food.
Trigger:	The testing engineers activate the sensor
Preconditions:	· A sample food product dispensed to the system. · The smart sensors are functional
Postconditions:	· Bacteria quality in the food is determined · The system indicates whether the food is fit for consumption.
Normal Flow:	The use case starts when the developers indicate that they want to build the sensor smart labels. i. Food sample prepared ii. The sensor is activated iii. The sensor indicates the level of bacteria in the food
Alternative Flows: If any
Exceptions: if any
Business Rules: if any	The sensor indicates by show of color codes the different levels of bacteria in the food. The color codes as well determine if the food is safe for human consumption.

2.3.5 System Functionality Testing

Primary actor	Use cases
ID and Name:	UC-5: Testing the system functionalities
Created By:		Date Created:
Primary Actor:	Project Team
Description:	The Quality Assurance Engineers wants to test the system’s browser compatibility.
Trigger:	Test if the system can work in all browsers.
Preconditions:	· A ready test environment · Test cases for the various browsers to be checked. · Test credentials; username and password.
Postconditions:	The Team can test other system functionalities.
Normal Flow:	The use case starts when the engineer indicates that he wants to check the system’s compatibility to different browsers. vi. The test environment requests for test credentials vii. The engineer enters username and password viii. Environment verifies the entered details against what is in database. ix. The environment successfully logs the engineer in within the specified browser loading period approximately 5 seconds upon clicking log in with stable internet.
Alternative Flows: If any	Step iv. If username is invalid, the use case goes back to step ii. Step iv. If password doesn’t match the entered username, the use case goes back to step ii.
Exceptions: if any	The browser loading period may be affected by the bandwidth strength. A stable bandwidth should however login within 5 seconds from any browser.
Business Rules: if any	More than three wrong log in attempts lead to blocking of the account as the system interprets it as unauthorized access.

3. Functional Requirements

3.1 User Requirements

i. Users should be able to sign up and access the different food products.

ii. Users should be able to view specific food product’s ingredients information.

iii. Users should be able get information of a selected food product expiry date while logged into the system.

iv. A user should be able get the different nutritional content for any selected food product.

v. A user should be able view information in regards to the food product manufacturer and origin.

vi. A user should be able to determine the level of bacteria in a selected food sample.

3.2 System Requirements

i. A valid email address and phone number

ii. A Standard computer or mobile device (at least 1-GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM)

iii. Microsoft Windows 7/later release or Mac OS X for the computer

iv. Android 8/later release or Apple 6/latest version

v. Available browser updates applied for improved security that provides anti-virus and spyware protection.

vi. Support team shall able to update the latest changes for the system from their end.

3.3 Non Functional Requirements

3.3.1 Performance.

The smart label system should be able to provide customers with information in relation to a selected food product. It should have the capacity to process a million requests at ago without delay or failure.

3.3.2 Availability

The smart label system should ensure 99% availability to customers with any downtime not lasting more than 10 minutes. Its availability should be on 24/7 basis.

3.3.3 Accuracy

The system must give very accurate information for any selected food product. No margin for error in determining the food information. Data must be constantly reviewed and tested to give a true reflection of any food sample selected. This is a significant subject as the system deals with data which directly impacts on human health and food consumption.

3.3.4 Usability

The consumers have varying computer literacy thus the system should accommodate the different customers. It should be both user friendly (UI) and give good user experience (UX).

Glossary:

Term

Definition

Backend Developer

DevOps Engineer

Frontend Developer

Product Designer

Product Owner

Quality Assurance Engineer

Quick Response (QR) Code

Radio-frequency identification (RFID)

Solutions Architect

Subject Matter Expert

One who develops the products for the backend of any website/application. A backend developer is responsible for building the structure of a software application.

An IT professional who works with product development team and other production staff to oversee code releases and deployments.

One who builds the applications user interface to ensure its user friendly making it easy for users to interact with.

A Professional who uses the different facets and tools of design to create and execute a solution that solves for a user's experience deficiencies.

A member of the Agile Team responsible for defining Stories and prioritizing the Team Backlog to streamline the execution of program priorities while maintaining.

A quality assurance professional responsible for tracking the development process of a product from start to finish.

Is a machine-scannable image that can instantly be read using a Smartphone sensor.

System which uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects.

A professional tasked with designing, describing, and managing the solution engineering in relation to specific business problems.

A person who is an authority in a particular area or topic.